Legendary actress, Gracie Allen, was born Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen on Jul 26, 1895 in San Francisco, CA. Allen died at the age of 69 on Aug 27, 1964 in Hollywood, CA .

Early Life

Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen was most likely born on
July 26th, 1895 in San Francisco, California and was one of four
girls: Bessie, Hazel, and Pearl. Thanks to faulty record keeping and the great
earthquake and fire of April 1906, most of San Francisco's public records were
destroyed, leaving her true age a mystery. Although it commonly believed she
was born in 1895, her gravestone stated her birth year as 1902. Allen was born
in an Irish Catholic family to George and Molly Allen. Her father was song and
dance man who primarily performed in traveling minstrel shows while her mother
chose to stay home and keep watch over the children. By the time Gracie was
three, she had already made her stage debut dancing at the local church. Two
years later, at the age of five, George Allen went on tour and never came back,
disappearing from his family's life forever. Molly Allen would quickly remarry
to Edward Pidgeon, who took over as Gracie's formative father figure in her
life. Little Gracie would inherit her mother's love of show business, in
particular the theater and the movies. She would often daydream of one day
seeing her name in bright, shining letters, lighting up the marquees. She
developed a great crush on Charlie Chaplin, who her stepfather arranged for her
to meet when she was six years old.

Early Career

Although Gracie and her three sisters received their formal
education at the Star of the Sea Convent School, they all received voice and
dance lessons due to their mother's love of all things show business. All four sisters
soon became proficient dancers, and began instructing their own classes in the
basement of their home to make a little cash on the side. They also began to sing at their local
churches and movies houses. Eventually the sisters formed their own Irish folk
dancing act "The Four Colleens" and began touring the United States. Although
the act broke up not too long after it formed, the experience was enough for
Gracie to where she belonged: on the stage. Rather than return home to San Francisco
with her sisters, Allen decided to stay in New York and join a vaudeville act. After
she left the act, she found herself in desperate need of a partner and began a
six-month search process. Unfortunately, she found little luck and soon enrolled
in stenography classes to learn how the ways of the secretary.

Enter George Burns

Although attending secretarial school, Allen's heart was
still in performance. Around 1922 Allen's roommate took her to a show performed
by Billy Lorraine and George Burns, whose act was about to break-up. Her roommate
knew both Allen and Burns were in the market for a new comedic partner and
thought the two might work well together. Allen was impressed with Burns' act
and asked to be introduced. Soon after she gave up her keyboard for a
microphone and began working on an act with her new partner and with this the
George Burns-Gracie Allen act was born. They first began performing as a duo in
Newark, New Jersey, earning five dollars with Gracie as the funny man and
George as the straight shooter. The pair began touring; first relying on
pre-existing acts the two had performed but quickly amassed their own original
material. Slowly, Burns began to develop feelings for Allen despite the fact
that she was already engaged to a fellow entertainer, Benny Ryan. She was, in fact,
ready to marry Ryan, but delayed the marriage when she and Burns were booked tour
of the Orpheum circuit theaters at a hefty 450 dollars a week. It was while on
this tour that Burns first proposed to Allen, to which she a quick and curt "no." Actually, she gave several "nos" before finally choosing Burns over
Ryan. After three years of working, traveling, and living together, the pair
was finally married January 7th, 1926 in Cleveland, Ohio.

The newly married couple wasted little time after their nuptials
and got right back to work and immediately began performing their newest act, "Lamb Chops."The act was hit and soon Burns and Allen were in high demand.
Within just two years of their marriage, the couple landed a gig at the Palace
Theater on New York's Great White Way. Their Broadway debut was a smash hit,
with much of praise going to Allen's performance and Burns' writing
abilities.The couple played at
the Palace for 17 weeks straight, a record for vaudevillian acts. Allen also
became the first Mistress of Ceremonies in Palace Theater history.

Film and Radio

In 1929 the duo began working on two new mediums: film and
radio. After the pairs successful run on Broadway, popular radio show host
Eddie Cantor asked Allen to be on his radio program sans Burns. Burns
encouraged his wife to do the show, knowing the audiences would fall in love
with her as he did. After quickly endearing herself to radio audiences, she
received invites to other radio shows and by 1932 George and Gracie had a
contract with CBS radio to produce their own show, aptly titled The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. During
this time the pair also became a regular staple on film. In 1929 the duo was
offered a contract from Paramount Pictures: $1,800 for the completion of nine
short films. Although the Allen originally had no intention of going in to
film, the offer was much too tempting and later that year the pair released
their first short film, Lamb Chop, a
filmic adaptation of their popular vaudeville acts. Over the next two-years
they released more successful shorts such as Fit to be Tied, The Babbling Book, and Your Hat. In 1933 they appeared in their first feature length film International House as supporting
players to the films main star, W.C Fields. Later that year the pair was
featured in the Bing Crosby hit College
Humor.

In 1934 George and Gracie finally were stars of their
vehicle, this time with the Norman Z. McLeod comedy Many Happy Returns. Through out the rest of mid-1930s, George and
Gracie's popularity only grew. They continued to star in hit comedy films such
as Love in Bloom, Here Comes Cookie, and
College Holiday. They also remained a
popular staple on radio; keeping the airwaves amused their domestic humor and
pitch perfect comedic chemistry.In
1937 the duo starred opposite Fred Astaire as his comical sidekicks in Damsel in Distress. In the film Gracie
got a chance to demonstrate not only her comedy skills but her dancing skills,
as well. Although they continued to appear in films for the rest of the decade,
their weekly radio show remained their main claim to fame. Their final film
together came in 1939 with the comedy Honolulu.

Later Career

Always a fan of comical publicity, the team announced that
Allen would be running for the President of the United States and the third
party ticket, The Surprise Party. The duo then went on a nation-wide campaign
tour, playing live radio shows in the cities they visited. Although she may
have not won the Presidency, she did receive an endorsement from Harvard
University and over 42,000 votes. It was around this time that the pair decided
to change up their comedy routine, realizing they were simple too old to play
the daft young lovers-shtick anymore. Soon, they changed their comedy personas
and revealed to the world that were married with new adopted children. They
began playing their new domestic humor on their radio-show and ratings went
through the roof. In 1950, they moved their act from radio to television,
starring in their own series The George
Burns and Gracie Allen Show. The show was a tremendous success and ran for
8 years and 299 episodes. During the shows run, Allen received six nominations
for Best Actress in a comedy. She made a couple more televisions before her
delicate health made her call it quits by the start of the new decade. She
spent her time in retirement with her husband playing cards, visiting friends
and in general enjoying the golden years of her life. However, after a serious
heart attack in 1961, she stayed mostly at home. Gracie Allen died on August 27th,
1962. She was 69 years old.

, Eve Arden and others – Mother’s Day on OTR

By Aurora on May 7, 2014 From How Sweet It Was

On everyone’s agenda as part of the?festivities honoring Mother’s Day should be?listening to good, old-fashioned entertainment – on the radio. ?In case you have none of that handy, included here is a nice collection to get you started so?have fun and share with the entire family?-?... Read full article

for President (2)

By Aurora on Jul 26, 2013 From How Sweet It Was

Reblogged from Once upon a screen...: America fell in love with as soon as she hit the airwaves playing ditzy Gracie to Burns' straight man in the longest comedy collaboration in show business history - Burns and Allen. ?George Burns was always astonished that it lasted as long as it di... Read full article

for President (1)

By Aurora on Jul 26, 2013 From Once Upon a Screen

America fell in love with as soon as she hit the airwaves playing ditzy Gracie to Burns’ straight man in the longest comedy collaboration in show business history – Burns and Allen. ?George Burns was always astonished that it lasted as long as it did because the entire act c... Read full article

, a look back

By Aurora on Jul 26, 2012 From How Sweet It Was

She made her stage debut at the age of three and is one of the pioneers of the domestic situation comedy. ?A dancer, a singer, a comedienne, was a veteran performer before most went to their high school proms, she’d quit school at fourteen to join her family on stage full time. ?A... Read full article

[Millie has just spotted movie star Brooks Mason on the deck of a cruise ship]
Millicent 'Millie' De Grasse:
My dream man! I'm gonna meet him in person. And I'm warning you, if he makes one false move, I'm his!
Miss Dorothy 'Dot' March:
I suppose you think it'll do you a lot of good to throw yourself at him.
Millicent 'Millie' De Grasse:
Throw myself at him? If I thought it would do any good, I'd have myself shot at him out of a cannon!

6672 Hollywood Blvd.

Accidentally spilled a pot of boiling water on her arm as a child, which left a bad scar she kept concealed for the rest of her life (her one big wish was to wear a strapless evening gown and no gloves, just once).

Profiled in book "Funny Ladies" by Stephen Silverman. [1999]

In 1922 she and George Burns made their first performance at the Hill Street Theatre in Newark, NJ, where they were paid $5 per day. George saw that the audience not only found Gracie's character funny but they fell in love with her, and he did, too. He immediately changed the act to give her all the funny lines and played her straight man. They became a hit.